Pangboche-Dingboche

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Pangboche - Dingboche 30 April
After writing our last blog in Pangboche i was struck by altitude sickness, what began as a mild headache and nausea developed into me feeling pretty unwell. Unfortunately, food and hydration are key in combating altitude sickness and, due to my stomach being so unsettled, i had been eating very little. I spent the afternoon in bed and then went through to dinner, had one spoon of garlic soup and begged off back to bed. We decided that i should begin diamox which i did. The side effects are pins and needles in your face, hands and feet, and that its a diuretic, a small price to pay. A terrible night brought us to morning with me utterly convinced this was the end of my trip. I got up for breakfast where the boys forced me to eat a small bowl of porridge after which it is was back to bed for me. We decided to carry on to Dingboche and see how things went so we left Pangboche at 10am for a 3 hour trip to Dingboche. It was very unpleasant and i was thrilled to arrive in one piece..... The good news is I am now completely recovered and feeling so much better - quite amazing how the body works. The vegetation has changed to low juniper shrubs and there are no trees and little survives round here. It is a very harsh environment for people to live in. We are staying in a teahouse where we still have a private bathroom (no shower) and there is a bucket with river water to flush the toilet. AH well, we are at 4350M!! the atmosphere in the teahouse is great and we have met some interesting people of all nationalities - everyone congregates in the dining room as it is the warmest place so its a social, fun place to be. We have a guy from Hong Kong doing a summit attempt and he is here for a rest so hopefully we shall be able to visit his spot at base Camp. An early dinner leads to an early bedtime and a long night of little and restless sleep (all altitude related i believe).

Dingboche Acclimatisation Day 1 May
Don't let anyone fool you into believing that an acclimatisation day is a rest day. It most certainly is not. We climbed up a hill (a Nepalise Hill, an anywhere else in the world mountain) to 4800M this morning. Despite it being really difficult due to the thin air - it took us 2.5hrs to get up and 45mins to get down - the views were spectacular and we saw a magnificent Golden Eagle circling around. Dingboche is at the base of Ama Dablam ( more difficult than Everest to summit) and we seem to need to pinch ourselves to believe we are actually here. the culmination of our trip is really only a day away and we hope that we both stay healthy enough to make it. Things can change up here in a matter of minutes so you can never be too confident. We are on our second day without a shower and i am pleased to say that i have not yet fallen to pieces, this may change so watch this space! So, at 4350M we are both well and feeling strong, lets hope that lasts as we have a big jump to 4950M tomorrow. It is bitterly cold and i am typing this in my down jacket, a beanie and icy pop fingers so until next time...

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